Laundry device.



H. L. FORD.

LAUNDRY DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15. I916.

19mm, Patented July 2,1918

"ii ans HARRIET 1D. FORD, 0F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

LAUNDRY DEVICE.

Latinas.

tpeciflcation of Letters Patent.

Patented ma a, tale.

Application filed November 15, 1916. Serial No. 132,478.

improvement is to provide a strong, simple,

and comparatively inexpensive device that is provided with a handle and has jaws associated therewith that are adapted to grasp a piece of fabric in such a manner that the fabric may be rubbed over a wash board to wash it. 1

A further object is to provide means that may be operated from a point near the end of the handle to open and close the jaws.

The invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation, and combination of parts, as will be more clearly described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and finally pointed out in the appended claims.

In the well known method of washing clothes by hand on a wash board that is placed in a tub of water, it is necessary for the person who is doing the washing to grasp the clothes with the hands and rub them over the wash board. This often results in the hands being immersed in strong soap suds for long periods of time and in the fingers being rubbed over the wash board and the clothes until the skin is worn 0E and they are made sore. Moreover, the above method also necessitates a continuous bending of the back, which tires a person very quickly. I have found that by the use of the device herein disclosed the work of rubbing clothes over a wash board may be done very satisfactorily without immersing the hands or rubbing them on the wash board and without bending the back continuously.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a device embodying this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with the handle broken away; Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in cross section substantially on broken line 3, 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4c is a view in elevation of the end of the handle showing parts in the position they may assume when the jaws are opened; Fi. 5 is a plan view of the end of the handle, showing the jaw actuating mechanism in a closed position; and Fig. 6 1s a view in front elevation illustrating a modified form of gripping member, certain parts being omitted. I

Referring to the drawings throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, the numeral 7 indicates a handle adapted to fit within a socket member ,8 formed integral with, or rigidly secured to, an arcuate front jaw, member 9. I

10 is a rear jaw member secured on a transverse bar 11 that is pivoted in downwardly projecting lugs12 that are provided on each end of the member 9.

13 is a lever arm that is secured to the movable jaw 10 and projects upwardly through a slot 1 1 in the top central portion of the jaw member 9, and 15 is an actuating rod that is pivoted to the top end of the lever arm 18 and extends lengthwise of the handle through guides 16 and 17 the guide 17 being in the form of a block that is slidable lengthwise on the handle 7 18 is a compression spring that is placed on the rod 15 between the block 17 and a knob 19 on the outer end of the rod, and 20 is a fixed pin extending through the rod 15 just below the block 17.

21 is a forked lever member secured to the handle 7 by pivots 22 and articulated by pivot members 23 with two links 24 that are pivotally secured, as at 25, to the sides of the block 17 in such manner that when the lever member is thrown upwardly into the position shown in Fig. 4L, the block 17 will be moved downwardly on the handle, and when the lever member is moved downwardly into the position shown in Figs. 1 0r 5, the block 17 will be moved outwardly on the handle 7, the pivot 23 passing the center line of the pivots 22 and 25 when the lever arm is in the position shown in Fig. 1 and automatically forming a look.

The jaw member 10 may be moved into the open position shown by broken lines in Fig. 3 by throwing the lever member 21 forward into the position shown in Fig. 4. When the jaws are thus open they may be placed on a piece of fabric 26, as a garment that is to be washed, and the lever member 21 may be pulled backward into the closed position shown in. Fig. 1, the jaw 10 closing toward the jaw 9 and tightly clasping the fabric 26 and the spring 18 holding the fabric tightly clasped until the lever mem her is again thrown forward,

lllO

engages the lower end of the block 17 and causes the rod 15 to be moved forwardly therewith to-"open the jaws whenthe'lever member 21 is thrown forward. v In the device, as shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, the gripping edges of the-jaws are preferably" smooth and unbrOken; but in Ifh'av'e shown a modified form Whereiir'th'e gripping edges"of the jaws are serrated or cut away ,to'fo-rm tooth-like membe'rsQ'Zthat' g ri pthe fabric more securely.

O viou'sly "changes inthe formfof conion of thisdevice' may be resorted to W 'departing'from the spirit of the invention or sac 'fieing anyo fits advantages.

YVhat lclai v, nd desire to protect by Letter'slla tii i a -ewes of the class described, comprising "ja'w" members, a handle secured thereto, a slidabflein'ember on said handle, a jaw actnating bar pivotally connected with one fof said jaw members and extending flengthwi'se'of said handlethrough said slide member, a knob on the end ofsaid actuating-bar, a compression spring interposed Copies of this patent may be obtained for between said knob and the end of said slidable member, a lever arm pivoted on said handle and links connecting said lever arm with said slidable member. 2; A device of the class described, comprising an arcuate jaw member, a handle selengthwise of saidhandle throngh said slidable'blocl'r, a stop on" said rod engageable 'with'the inner end "of said block, aknob on the ouiterend of saidrod, a compression 's'pringinterposed between said knob and the outer end of said "slidable" block, a forked jleve'r arm pivoted to saidliandle, and links connecting said slidable block withsaid forke'dlever arms and adapted to inove said "block 'lengthwise of said "handle when lever arm'is moved on its pivot. Signed byme at Seattle, Washington, this eoarda o Oct. 1916.

' HARRIET L. r0111). Witnesses: i I Q F; C. MATHENY J. Coon;

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D.G. 

